Patrick Park Interview

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Talking shop with the anti-singer/songwriter.

By Spence D.

Patrick Park plays guitar. He also sings. And yes, he writes all of his own material. As such any reasonable individual would naturally assume that Park is one of those touchy-feely singer-songwriter type fellows. Hell, even his debut full length, Loneliness Knows My Name is filled with acoustic guitar driven meditations on life, further strengthening the whole songwriter who sings comparison.

But Park ain't no limp-wristed folkie with a New Age, POMO (and Post Millennial) bent. He's just a cat from Colorado who likes to write and sing and play guitar. He likes to keep it simple, raw, emotional, but also sweet (albeit in that bitter sort of way). You can hear all of this on the 11 songs contained on his album, but you get a much better sense of it all when you see Park perform live.

In person Park is pretty much what you would expect. He's tall and lanky, and somewhat. Having a tape recorder thrust in his face seems to make him a bit uneasy (as does talking about himself), but he's polite, considerate, and funny in a deadpan kind of way.

On a recent jaunt through San Francisco, IGN Music E.I.C. made the journey down to the venue Park was performing at (that would be the famous Slim's) and sat down with the musician in his dressing room, where upon the two discussed the absurdity of the term "singer-songwriter", why it's cool not to tell people what your lyrics really mean, and why playing live should be a different experience from playing in the studio.

IGN: You've more often than not been referred to as a singer/songwriter. Do you think that term has become something of an oxymoron in 2003, given the state of the music industry and the prevailing sounds and musical trends?

Patrick Park: [laughs] Yeah, it kind of has been. Most singers aren't writers I guess any more. So I guess kind of it is these days. I don't know, I think there's still some people out there who write good songs. Hopefully.

IGN: In addition to that tag, people have also described your music as alt country, a folksy Brian Wilson, and endless comparisons to every one from Dylan and Lennon to Cobain and Morrissey. How would you describe yourself?

Patrick Park: [laughs] I would try very hard not to [laughs]. Yeah, I don't know how to describe myself. I really would feel uncomfortalbe trying. I feel that a lot of the comparisons and stuff are just people needing to have a frame of reference. I mean I don't feel very connected with the whole alt country thing. It doesn't really feel like me, I guess it's not too far off from what I'm doing on my own, but I don't feel closely connected with that. As for singer/songwriter? I don't really like the term. Whatever. Who cares what term I like or don't like? But the term "singer/songwriter" just conjurs up all these images that are just cheesy. I don't like that term and I don't relate to the alt country thing. I don't even know what that one means anymore. I mean what the hell is alt country?

IGN: What do any of those terms mean to anybody any more? I think you nailed it when you said that people just need a frame of reference.

Patrick Park: Yeah, it's all about headlines and quick...'what's the song about?' 'do I like it?' 'Tell me if I like it.' [laughs].

IGN: To switch gears a tad, there was an interesting quote you made in your bio where somebody asked you about explaining your lyrics and you replied that you would rather not, thus allowing for the listener to create their own meaning from the songs.

Patrick Park: Yeah.

IGN: That's refreshing since so many times you ask an artist about their lyrics and they tell you exactly what it's about, like 'Oh, that song's about me running over my dog in my car.'

- Spence D.

Portrait of an artist backstage at Slim's.

Patrick Park: Yeah and then you're just like 'Really? Is it about running over a f@#king dog? That song that I thought was so beautiful and it made me feel this way and it's just about you running over a dog? That's so stupid.' [Revealing the meaning of the lyrics] it really kind of trivializes it in a way, do you know what I mean? First of all it seems really self-important for me to sit here and say 'I was writing about this and this.' What the songs are about to me is what they are about to me. What I wrote them about, that's for me. How everybody else relates them to their own life, that's, you know, when someone else is listening to them, they're not mine anymore. They don't belong me anymore, they belong to whoever is listening to them and they can relate them to their life however they want to.

IGN: That said, are you merely writing the songs for yourself first and once you've written them and you put them on record or perform them live they become the possession of the audience? Or do you not even think of them in terms like that?

Patrick Park: No, it's not like that really. I write the songs and a lot of them are about personal experience or whatver, but there's no point where [I say] 'Oh, okay, I'm not doing this for me anymore.' I just go out and play them and it's therapuetic for me to play these songs every night. It's two different things. How I relate to the music is one thing and how everyone else relates to it is another thing, you know? I don't think they can ever be the same thing.

IGN: Arguably not, unless I was able to get inside of your head and especially if you don't devulge what the songs are about from your perspective, then the only perspective I have is mine. Which goes back to what you were saying about the song belonging to the audience. It's almost as if you're giving us a gift, saying 'Here you go. Now that these songs are yours, do with them what you want.'

Patrick Park: Yeah.

IGN: How do you deal with playing your songs every night? Do they lose any meaning for you the more you play them?

Patrick Park: No, not really. I mean every night is a different experience. Especially playing by myself, it's such a...it's just a different thing every night. And especially when I'm playing by myself there's so many different ways that things can go, you know what I mean? It's not like how it would be if I had a studio band and everyone was tuned in and everyone played their part and we played it the same way every time. I mean, things change and sometimes when I'm playing a song I relate it to different things other than what I originally wrote it about, it all depends on how I'm feeling at the moment. But I haven't gotten sick of them yet. Maybe ask me [this question again] in a year [laughs].

IGN: Speakign of a studio band, you use various musicians on your album Loneliness Knows My Name...

Patrick Park: I played a lot of that stuff [myself]. But I had pretty much anybody who would record for free with me, because I actually made that record before I was signed [to Hollywood Records]. We got the instruments that I wanted on there and we got them for free, but obviously it's not like a band. It was more like 'Hey, would you come in and play on this record? It's gonna be a really great record, here's what you play and we need like 2 hours of your time. We can pay you on the backend sometime.'

IGN: Do you ever plan to take a full band out on the road with you?

Patrick Park: Well I think I'll probably put together a band at some point, but I don't want it to be exactly like the record because it's so f@#king boring when I go and see a show and it sounds exactly like the record. It's like 'Great, I've got the record and I can listen to it whenever I want.' Live should be a different experience, it should be a different feeling than the record. I mean it should still sound good. I want to put together a band and incorporate elements that are on the record, but am I gonna have a gospel choir and a string section and a horn section? Probably not. But I want to incorporate elements that are on the record, but it should have a different feel to it than the record, you know what I mean?